The reports of bent phone are from being in front not back pocket.. i carry my note 3 in my front pocket
But it is also the phone 6+ .. not iphone 6.
That's significant in the iPhone 6+ is longer, so more leverage and area to distribute force over the length to find a weak point
Having just watched the video the bent point is at the bottom left side button cutout... and the buttons seem to be lower down the body towards the center then the other large format phones..
In large format phones the ability to one hand reach a control is a concern so from an ergonomic perspective putting the buttons lower down the body makes sense..
But again leverage over length makes "closer to the center" bad for your weakest point
So you have the weakest point, the button cutout, closer to the fulcrum point over the longer lever of the 6+.
I want to feel sorry for Apple if this is whats happening..this classic engineering problem your trying to trade off things in this case ergonomic over mechanical requirements..
Apples pursuit for thinness got them in this jam. But they all try to make smart phones as thin as possible. Apple pushed it too far....so it seems
Apple tested everything but not some guy walking around with it in his front pocket for two weeks
I was quite surprised. Consumers Reports found in their stress tests that the iPhone 6 Plus was actually stronger than the iPhone 6, taking 20 pounds more force before it started to deform. The iPhone 6 started to deform at 70 pounds of pressure and popped the screen out at 90, while the 6 Plus deformed beginning at 90 and popped the screen at 110.
CU found that the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 was stronger than either, both deforming and catastrophically failing at 150 pounds of force. However, both iPhones still worked even with their screens popped out, while the Note was defunct.
Having just watched the video the bent point is at the bottom left side button cutout... and the buttons seem to be lower down the body towards the center then the other large format phones..
There are serious question about the authenticity of that video. . . the time showing on the screen before and after the bending don't agree with what is claimed. The narration says "I just bent my iPhone 6 Plus," with the screen showing 1:59, then ticking over to 2:00. . . but the screen shows distinctly 2:27 during the bending process. There are some video breaks or transitions during the bending process as well that are being questioned by video experts.
Some Twitter feeds from employees of a London based PR firm (SMI or MSI?, which is said to be in the employ of Samsung), seem to be bragging about "successful and easy their creation of the bending iPhones campaign" was in reponse to the iPhone 6 launch.
Apple has always been known for their engineering. I, too, would have assumed that would be the likely place for the bend to occur. I think Apple engineers thought that as well and took steps to handle it. Apple has stated they placed both stainless steel and titanium reinforcements at the weakest points in the body where the buttons go through the side.